Sunday, July 03, 2005

Camp Gramma...Success!

I haven't blogged here for the past few days because I've been helping at "Camp Gramma". What a fun time we had! Boy, are we exhausted. We hosted our two oldest grandchildren for three days and two nights. Their parents took a need break at Las Vegas. We felt like we were running a resort. It was non-stop action and involvement from sun-up to sun-down. The biggest hit of the whole time was the new "swimming pools". This was the blow up kind with a slide between linking them. Layla and Stone went "swimming" at least 3 times a day. It has an attached spray nozzle that makes it like "slip-n-slide" through the sprinklers like we used to do. To quote Layla, "This is better than Wild Rivers!" They invented all kinds of games ie. copy the leader, jacuzzi etc. Another high light was the daily trek walking over to feed Aunt Patti's cat. It has been left alone for us to take care of for 5 weeks. Betty goes over daily to feed, pet and clean the litter box. The kids thought this was such fun. The cat is very shy so they had to be so gentle and loving.There were all kinds of puppet shows given and received,all made up on the spot...ad lib. There were themed tea parties with special, miniature, silver service with polite manners...a la "Mrs. Potts" There was cookie baking from scratch. There was "hall ball" in various forms. There were puzzles and crosswords, mazes and colorbooks. There was a new clay of multi colors that doesn't harden with lots of plastic body parts to create creatures. There were the latest DVD's to calm down to ie. Tarzan 2 and Hefalump, their favorite. There were stories read and tell.This time we had no snail collecting and naming. We did have some rock collecting and "selling". There was "pirate booty" and earring wearing. And there was taking turns in the vibrating chair. At night they fell asleep almost immediately they were so tired. They brought their sleeping bags. There was hardly any arguing or "fighting". They got along quite well and are the best of playmates. Betty gets all of the credit for the planning and execution of such a planned event. I only helped and gave her a break once in awhile. She has admitted that she still doesn't know how she (almost alone)raised our four boys. She just has the ability to really relate and get involved in their world. I marvel at her skill with children...especially our grandchildren. We are so lucky to be able to enjoy our kid's kids. Bob